Watercraft preserver



1964 R. w. MORGAN ETAL 3, 8

WATERCRAFT PRESERVER Filed Dec. 14. 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORS RAYMOND WMoRcAM BY WILLARD E.BAKER AT TY.

Feb. 25, 1964 R. w. MORGAN ETAL 3,121,888

WATERCRAFT PRESERVER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 14, 1961 PIC-5.5

United States Patent 3,1215% WATERQRAFT PRESERVER Raymond W. Morgan, 156 2nd St, and Willard Baker, 360% S. Main St, both of Wadsworth, Gino Filed Dec. 14, 1961, Ser. No. 159,394 4 Claims. (\Cl. 9-3) This invention relates to the preservation of life and property being borne upon navigable waters, and, more particularly, to apparatus in combination wrtn a watercraft wherein said apparatus is operable, as in the event of an emergency, to provide additional buoyancy and stabilization for said watercraft.

Due to the growing popularity and increased usage of boats by fishermen and hunters, as well as the increasing acceptance of boating as a recreational activity by the entire family of the general public, there is a growing demand on the part of boating enthusiasts for fool-proof boats, whether they be simple row boats, sail boats or the more refined inboard power boats, having built-m safety features for the protection of passengers lives in addition to providing for the preservation of the boat owners property investments. This demand manifests itself in the need for a boat which, in the hands of an inexperienced operator, can, at a moments notice, be rendered nearly impossible to capsize or, in the event the boat should capsize suddenly due to heavy seas or other unusual circumstances, can be readily made virtually unsinkable to act .as a preserver for passengers thrown to the water.

In the past, various expedients have been utilized in an effort to provide boats with auxiliary devices having capabilities for renderng the boats more stable and unsin kable. With but few exceptions these expedients have provided very limited protection at the expense of some other desirable feature. In watercraft commonly known as rowboats, outboard motor boats and the smaller sail boats, blocks of closed-cell plastic foam materials have been utilized to fill bow and stern spaces and the space eneath the passengers seats in an effort to provide means for buoying up the boat in a situation wherein the boat may become capsized or swamped. These expedi nts, mounted within the con-fines of the boats hulls, although providing a certain measure of increased buoyancy in the event of capsizing or swamping of the boat, did nothing to stabilize the boat to prevent capsizing, and, more often than not, resulted in an undesirable decrease in available cargo or storage space and passengers foot room. in order to provide necessary and auxiliary stabilization of the watercraft in rough a ter, utilitarian devices were devised to produce the-desired results. These evidenced themselves in the form of water planes for example, in which the stabilizing planes projected from the hull of the watercraft in the area of the bilge or sheer strakes, or in the form of outriggers. Such expedients, although in many cases adequately stabilizing the watercraft in which they were incorporated, were unsightly and occupied excessive and expensive space marina and private docking facilities.

it therefore became incumbent upon those in the watercraft building and servicing industries to provide an apparatus which could be easily installed in various types of watercraft during their manufacture or installed on existing watercraft, and which would provide the features of buoyancy and stabilization so vitally needed, but lacking in former devices.

it is an object of this invention therefore, to provide an apparatus which will render a watercraft more stable in heavy seas.

It is ano her object of this invention to provide apparatus which will increase the buoyancy of a water- Craft.

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It is still another object of the present invention to provide an appaatus which is readily attachable to -wa tercraft, operable to carry out the foregoing objects when necessary, and, when not carrying them out, performing other utilitarian functions.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide an apparatus as described in the preceding paragraph wherein said functions include acting as a watercraft bumper or fender, a spray rail and a deck tread way.

It is a still further object of the present invention to provide'a member, attached to and normally enclosed within a protective and resilient, combination gunwale guard and decking treadway, which may be readily mounted upon a watercraft, and which is inflatable when desired to provide increased buoyancy and stabilization for said watercraft.

Further objects and advantages to be gained through employment of the present invention will be more completely understood by those skilled in the art to which it pertains from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment thereof, and from the drawings forming a part of this application in which:

PEG. 1 is a perspective view of one particular form of watercraft incorporating the apparatus of the invention;

PEG. 2 is a fragmentary side elevation of the power boat shown in FIG. 1, with portions partially broken away to illustrate the preferred relative positioning of various components of the apparatus;

PEG. 3 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view of the power boat with inflatable member and resilient cover, taken along line 3-3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 3, but with the infiatable member in an expanded, inflated position;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary portion of one end of the apparatus as shown in FIG. 2, to an enlarged scale, illustrating a preferred means for inflating the apparatus;

PEG. 6 is a view of the apparatus, similar to FIG. 5, as it appears when its inflation is initiated; and

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary view, to a more enlarged scale,

of a portion of the apparatus shown in FIG. 6 showing it pertains that the preserver and stabilizer 10 is readily adaptable to any species of watercraft, whether it be an outboard motor boat, a sail boat, or a simple dinghy, to name but a few of the more common varieties of watercraft.

As will be best seen in FIG. 3, the elongated resilientmember 11 is J-shaped in cross section, and is preferably extruded or molded from flexible elastomeric materials of a suitable abrasion resistant character. The member 11 comprises a flat, generally horizontally extending portion 15 and a convex portion 16 which also extends generally horizontally. The portion 15 may be made of sufficient width to overlie the gunwale rails 12 and a por: tion of the deck 17 of the boat 13, thus providing improved footing for those boarding or disembarking'from tl e boat 13. For this purpose, when the member 11 is molded, the upper surface of the portion 15, maybe provided with a checkered or other suitable design of tread surface 18. The stem end of the member 11 is covered with a flexible end cap 19 vulcanized thereto, while the bow end is normally covered with a molded 3 fairing cap 20, which may or may not be attached to member 11, but is shown in the drawings as not so attached but merely mounted on the boat 13 to protect the end of inflatable member 14 and to fair in the contour of the member 11 to the boats contour. Ii will be appreciated that member 11 and caps 19 and 26 may be formed of material having a color matching or contrasting that of the boat 13. The member 11 may be readily attached to the boat 13 by screwing or cementing the portion to the upper surface of the gunwale rails 12 and the deck 17, which attaching means are not shown. By such attachment, the convex portion 16, normally in a lowered position against the hull of the boat 13, is free to rise, hinging about the gunwale rail 12 as the inflatable member 14 is inflated.

The inflatable member 14, which is preferably an extruded expandable tube of resilient elastomeric material, is attached to member 11, by means not shown, from end to end of member 14 in the area between lines A and B, as seen in FIGS. 3 and 4. This is preferably accomplished by cementing the two members 11 and 14 together in this area, although it will be appreciated that the two members could be extruded as a unitary structure. The forward end of each tube member 14 is covered with a hemispherical cap 21 while the after end is covered with an identical cap 22, both of which are vulcanized to the member 14.

Vulcanized to the after cap 22, as at 23, and coaxial with tube member 14, is a valve assembly 24. Assembly 24 includes a rigidifying web 25 disposed in a plane perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the assembly 24 and vulcanized to member 11 along its peripheral surface adjacent member 11. Mounted perpendicularly to web 25 by its forward end is an elastomeric valve housing 26, of frusto-conical configuration. An axial passageway 24a, containing a valve 27 coaxially vulcanized therein, communicates the interior of after cap 22 with the after end of housing 26. The after end of housing 26 is countersunk, as at 28, and a female threaded insert 29, having a length less than the depth to which housing 26 is countersunk, is vulcanized in the extreme after end of the countersunk portion.

Mounted within each member 11, at its extreme after end, by means of clip members mounted on member 11 by means not shown, is a replaceable gas charging cylinder 31, containing pressurized fluid, and having a valve 32, identical to valve 27, mounted at its forward end. Although valves 27 and 32 may be identical, as shown in the drawings, only the details of one, valve 32, are shown for simplicity. Valve 32 has a threaded male nipple 33 which is normally threadably engaged with the threaded insert 29 of valve housing 26. The mating threads of insert 29 and nipple 33 are preferably of the quick acting type, necessitating but approximately onehalf to three-quarters of a turn of cylinder 31 when it is installed or removed after use. The valve 32 has a core member 34 threadbly engaged in nipple 33. Core member 34 has an axial passageway 35 having a flared end portion 36. A valve stem 37, of somewhat smaller diameter than that of passageway 35, is axially movably mounted within passageway 35 and has a frusto-conical fluid pressure closure member 38 mounted on its after end. A spring 39 is biased between closure member 38 and a spider member 40 seated over the gas port 41 at the rear of valve 32 to normally urge closure member 38 into gas sealing engagement with the flared portion 36 of passageway 35 in core 34.

To make use of the present invention for its primary purpose as a boat preserver and stabilizer 10 in an emergency, the boat operator or a passenger depresses each after end cap 19 with his hand, as shown in FIG. 6, or by other suitable means not shown, to force the gas charging cylinder 31 to slide forward in its retaining clips 30. As it does so it also tends to force valve assembly 24 forward, but this assembly is held in place by means of the rigidifying web 25. Thus, the assembly 24 buckles in a bellows-like shape, as at 42. As cylinder 33 is so moved forward the valve stem 37 of the cylinder valve 32 is pressed against a similar valve stem 43 of valve 27, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, causing it and its closure member 38 to be depressed against the force of spring 39 allowing the interior of cylinder 31 to communicate with the interior of inflatable tube member 14, and the pressurized gas in cylinder 31 to inflat member 14. As tube member 14 inflates it causes the lower edge of the elongated member 11 to lift away from the hull of the boat 13 to assume its position shown in FIG. 4.

In their fully inflated condition the preservers and stabilizers it) greatly increase the over all displacement of the boat 13, aiding in the prevention of its sinking in the event it should become swamped or unexpectedly overturned in exceptionally rough waters. If inflated before such an emergency arises the preserver and stabilizers 19 have an exceptional stabilizing effect upon the boat 13; whereby the effective beam of the boat is widened to increase its resistance to being overturned.

In addition to the primarily important safety features for the preservation of life and property mentioned above, the preservers and stabilizers 10 have desirable auxiliary features when in their normally deflated condition, as best viewed in FIGS. 1 to 3. In such condition, when the member 14 contains air at approximately atmospheric pressure, their protrusion from the gunwale rails 12 serve as spray rails, deflecting spray away from the passengers during high speed operation of the boat 13. When docking or tying up alongside another boat the preservers and stabilizers serve as effective resilient bumpers or fenders.

Although the preservers and stabilizers of the present invention have been described with reference to one particular embodiment thereof, modifications and changes may be made in the structure and the operation thereof within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

We claim:

1. A watercraft; comprising a hull; an clastomeric cover member externally mounted to each side of said hull by only one edge of said cover member, said cover iember normally projecting laterally outwardly from said edge and downwardly and inwardly in a generally semicircular configuration to define an elongated cavity between said hull and said cover member; and inflatable normally deflated member mounted on said watercraft within said cavity; a source of fluid under pressure greater than atmospheric pressure; and means operable to communicate the interior of said tubular member with said source of fluid to thereby inflate said tubular member whereby a second edge of said cover member, normally abutting said hull is warped about said first mentioned edge outwardly from said hull and upward.

2. A boat preserver in combination with a boat having a rigid hull, gunwale rails, and a deck; comprising a uniary member mounted on each gunwalc rail, each such member having three cooperative portions, the first of said portions comprising a generally horizontal treadway mounted on said deck abutting one of said gunwale rails, the second of said portions laterally contiguous with an extension of said first portion projecting laterally therefrom and beyond the said gunwale rail in a generally transverse semicircular configuration to externally abut said hull, and the third of said portions comprising a tubular inflatable member joined to said second portion in an area defined by the length of said inflatable member and a portion less than the total circumference of said last-mentioned member; means closing the ends of said tubular member; cover means to cap one end of said secend portion; and means responsive to the exertion of pressure on said cover means to inflate said tubular member.

3. A boat preserver in combination with a boat, said preserver comprising at least one resilient elastomeric cover member mouncd on said boat; an inflatable elastomeric tubular member mounted on said cover member; a resilient valve housing having one end mounted on one end of said tubular member; a passageway formed through said valve housing and the portion of said tubular member adjacent said valve housing; a first normally closed valve mounted in said passageway operable to communicate the interior of said tubular member with another end of said valve housing; a cylinder containing fluid at a pressure greater than atmospheric pressure, removably mounted on said preserver; nipple coupling means mounted in said passageway of said valve housing; a nipple mounted on said cylinder removably engaged with said coupling means in fluid pressure sealing relationship; a second normally closed valve mounted in said nipple, operable to communicate the interior of said cylinder with said passageway; and said valve housing deformable when said cylinder is urged toward said tubular member, whereby the ends of said valves are allowed to come into contact with one another to open one another, thereby communicating the interior of said cylinder with the interior or" said tubular member allowing the said fluid to inflate said tubular member.

4. A boat preserver, in combination with a boat having a hull, gunwale rails, and a deck; comprising a unitary member mounted on each of said gunwale rails, each such member having three cooperative portions: a first portion comprising a generally horizontal treadway mounted on the upper side of said gunwale rail and a portion of said deck abutting said rail and said treadway having a tread surface formed in its upper side, a second portion laterally contiguous with and an extension of said first portion projecting laterally therefrom and beyond the gunwale rail of said boat in a generally transverse semicircular configuration to abut said hull at a line below said gunwale rail, and a third portion comprising an inflatable elastomeric tubular member joined in generally parallel relationship to said second portion in an area defined by the length of said inflatable member and a portion less than the total circumference of said last-mentioned member;

cover means to cap said second portion; a cylinder containing a gaseous material under a pressure greater than atmospheric pressure; a resilient valve housing having one end mounted on one end of said inflatable member; means to limit axial movement of said valve housing relative to said second portion; an axial passageway formed through said valve housing and said inflatable member; a first normally closed valve mounted in said passageway operable to communicate the interior of said inflatable member with another end of said valve housing; nipple coupling means mounted in said other end of said valve housing coaxially with said passageway; a nipple mounted on said cylinder removably engaged with said coupling means in pressure sealing relationship; spring means removably and axially slideably mounting said cylinder to said second portion closely adjacent said cover means; a second normally closed valve mounted in said nipple, axially separated from said first valve, operable to communicate the interior of said cylinder with said passageway; a valve stem resiliently mounted in each of said valves for axial movement therein, said stern movement in one direction opening said valves; and said valve housing axially deformable in response to pressure applied to said cover means to allow said valve stems to abut one another and to move in said one direction relative to their respective valves to communicate the interior of said cylinder with the interior of said inflatable member, thereby allowing said gaseous material to inflate said tubular member.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,338,976 Schutte Ian. 11, 1944 2,399,670 Freygang May 7, 1946 2,685,695 Murfay Aug. 10, 1954 2,924,192 Salvage Feb. 9, 1960 FOREIGN PATENTS 331,133 Great Britain June 26, 1930 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTIQN Patent N00 3 12l 888 February .25 1964 Raymond W, Morgan et a1 e numbered pet-- that error appears in the abov d as It is hereby certified that the said Letters Patent should rea ent requiring correction and corrected below.

for "11" read M It line 57,

column 4 line 46,,

line "(5, for

Column 3 line 5 for "threadbly" read threadably for and" second occurrence read an "mouned" read mounted r.

Signed a nd sealed this 7th day of July 1964 (SEAL) Attest:

EDWARD J. BRENNE ERNEST W. SWIDER Attesting Officer Commissioner of Patents 

1. A WATERCRAFT; COMPRISING A HULL; AN ELASTOMERIC COVER MEMBER EXTERNALLY MOUNTED TO EACH SIDE OF SAID HULL BY ONLY ONE EDGE OF SAID COVER MEMBER, SAID COVER MEMBER NORMALLY PROJECTING LATERALLY OUTWARDLY FROM SAID EDGE AND DOWNWARDLY AND INWARDLY IN A GENERALLY SEMICIRCULAR CONFIGURATION TO DEFINE AN ELONGATED CAVITY BETWEEN SAID HULL AND SAID COVER MEMBER; AND INFLATABLE NORMALLY DEFLATED MEMBER MOUNTED ON SAID WATERCRAFT 